Tibet Weekly Update – February 21, 2014

A listing of the top news developments in and around Tibet during the previous week.

President Obama welcomes the Dalai Lama for third meeting

President Barack Obama meets with the Dalai Lama in the Map Room of the White House, Feb. 21, 2014.(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The Dalai Lama met with President Obama this morning (February 21) in the map room of the President’s residence at the White House. It is the third such meeting between the two Nobel Peace Prize laureates. ICT President Matteo Mecacci said, “This meeting affirms the long-standing friendship and respect of the United States toward His Holiness, his message, and his cause.”

Not long after the White House announced the meeting, the Chinese foreign ministry issued a press release, vehemently asserting that by meeting the Dalai Lama, the United States would “seriously violate norms governing international relations and severely impair China-US relations.” In a further sign of Beijing’s quixotic apoplexy over the meeting, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson responded to a reporter’s question at a subsequent press briefing by insisting that, “(if) the U.S. president wishes to meet any person, it’s his own affair, but he cannot meet the Dalai [Lama].” The Tibetan spiritual leader first met with President Obama in the White House in February 2010, and again in July 2011.

Tibetan self-immolator passes away in hospital

Lobsang Dorje, who set fire to himself on February 13, 2014.

The most recent Tibetan to self-immolate, Lobsang Dorje, who set fire to himself on February 13, 2014, in Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, died while in hospital following his protest. His body was not turned over to his family, instead officials gave them a box containing his ashes and provided no prior notice of his cremation.

Chinese official sharply criticizes Western countries over Tibet issue

Zhu Weiqun, the director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs CPPCC.

Amidst the backdrop of turmoil in Tibet, Zhu Weiqun, the director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and former interlocutor with the Dalai Lama’s representatives in the Sino-Tibetan dialogue process, published an extensive criticism of Western countries’ concerns regarding Tibet and Xinjiang. Included in his scathing remarks, Zhu stated that “anyone who poses harm to China’s core interests would pay a price and the bottom line that a country leader shall not meet with the Dalai Lama cannot be crossed,” indicating that the article was timed to coincide with the beginning of the Dalai Lama’s most recent visit to Washington, DC.